First Regrets, Second Chances
by Christie Cookie
Summary: Rufus is in his office just before Diamond Weapon hits and reminisces about the meetings with a certain dark-haired woman from AVALANCHE. Warning: lots of fluff and cute stuff ahead! Oneshot.


_How many years has it been? I decided to submit another fanfic. I have time this summer and even though I gave up writing and have better things to do, this summer is slow going and so I decided to have another go. It helps when you're in a RufusxTifa mood.  
_

_For Rufus x Tifa groupies only! If this couple makes you sick, it's not for those of a weak constitution! A lot of fluff! :D_

_I also decided to make this a kind of dedication. General Quistis at ran out of inspiration but then decided to draw some more RufusxTifa crap for me to squee over. So, this is for you! x  
_

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* * *

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**First Regrets, Second Chances****  
One Shot**

Rufus sat at his desk slumped over his keyboard. On the screen was a file on one of the members of the rebellious terrorist group AVALANCHE.

The intercom buzzed and Rufus started.

"Sir? Can I get you anything? A warm beverage? Anything to eat?"

Rufus massaged his forehead and frowned. "No, Elena. Just go and find your colleagues and tell them to get to work. We need start the launch sequence."

"Yes, sir."

Leaning back in his chair, Rufus shut his sleepy eyes and tried to think of the last time he slept in his own bed. As ruler of the world, Rufus felt a little robbed of his personal time. **(A.N. - Poor Ruffie! XD)** Yes, he wanted the world, but what had his dictatorship brought him? Lack of sleep, stress, Weapons, Sephiroth, a crazy scientist, a dying planet, hate, rebellion, traitors, terrorists…

Scratch that last one. _She_ wasn't a terrorist. None of them were, really. Like him, they were fighting for what they believed in. Rufus thought back to the first time they met. He had been quite amused at that little crew of rebels. But he was especially interested in _her _reason for joining that ragtag group.

"_Me too!"_ He could still remember her voice and his own curiosity at such sweetness in a person. How could one who was responsible for blowing up hundreds of billions of gil in reactors and equipment have such a gentle manner? Rufus smirked at his reminiscence.

* * *

_Rufus began his speech. "Old Man wanted to control the world with money… I want to control the world with fear…"_

_He started to pace across the 70__th__ Floor balcony and made his way over a dark-haired woman whose face mingled with hatred, fear and doubt. He stood to the side of her, still continuing with his speech and tilted his head closer. Standing at least six inches shorter than him, she continued to look ahead defiantly. Her eyes flickered a moment when Rufus pressed something into her hand. Rufus felt the warm touch but in an instant it was gone. Her hand twitched and she looked to the ground. Rufus moved on, continuing with his speech until he had finished it._

"_He likes to make speeches, just like his father."_

_Rufus turned to stare at her. She doesn't even know me, yet she thinks she can assume my character within 30 seconds! What an arrogant little plebeian. She stared back defiantly, tossing her hair back with a swift tilt of the head. The mercenary, Cloud Strife, spoke to his cronies briefly and they cleared off. Rufus's eyes followed the small brunette out until his eyes switched to Cloud. His sword was drawn and his stance was one of challenge._

Rufus' smirk faltered as he thought back when he and Cloud fought briefly not too long after they had met. Cloud was strong; but right then Rufus didn't have the time to play games. He didn't even want to kill him. He had peaked Rufus' curiosity. Cloud and his group were… interesting.

He grabbed onto the circling helicopter while his trusty guardian, Dark Nation, hopped aboard. Rufus watched AVALANCHE's getaway from the ShinRa Guard in the helicopter.

When was the next time Rufus had come across the group? Ah yes. They managed to sneak aboard the Junon ship bound for Costa Del Sol. Sephiroth was rumoured to be aboard but then disappeared. There was ruckus on the deck and some sailors had been murdered. A small group of soldiers and sailors were in a huddle in the middle of the deck. They were a strange group – especially as one had a red _tail. _One of the soldiers moved off. Rufus pursued him and called him to attention.

The soldier whipped around the saluted – though a little haphazardly, as if he didn't know what he was doing. Rufus frowned and the soldier looked to the ground. That's when he had spotted the smooth lock of hair straggling out from his helmet.

_Her helmet!_

* * *

"_So, have the rebel group been found yet?" He addressed the soldier._

_The soldier cleared his throat and grunted, "Uh, yessir. They're dead…. Sephiroth killed them…"_

_There was an awkward silence as Rufus looked the soldier up and down, noticing the "unnatural" curves of his body._

_The solider cleared his throat once again. "Uh, if there's nothing else sir, we have to clean up the bodies." Rufus tilted his head and the solider saluted weakly. He began to march away. _

"_You know, there are punishments for those who lie to their superiors. Especially when they try to deceive the President."_

_The solider stopped in his tracks. He turned slowly to face Rufus. The soldier replied weakly, "I don't know what you're talking about."_

"_Get a grip, Miss AVALANCHE. If your voice didn't give you away, your generous curves and long hair tumbling out of your helmet would have done it to perfection."_

_The soldier stiffened. "How did you know it was me?" she asked in a soft whisper. _

_Rufus stepped forward and grabbed the soldier's arm, pulling her into the shadows. Before she could resist, he took her helmet off. Rufus grinned triumphantly at his discovery. But the young woman who stood before him simply bit her lip and stared at the ground. "If you're going to kill me, do it. But I was the only one who snuck aboard."_

_Rufus' look grew solemn. "Don't even try to lie to me again. I may be out of touch with the common man, but I know a lie when I hear one. My board of members try to put them past me every day."_

_She looked up at him with anger. "Is that what I am? You think me _common?_" _

"_Aren't you?" Rufus replied with a patronising tone. "But that's by the by. The point is, you and your oddball crew snuck aboard a ShinRa cargo ship without paying for a ticket, you stole uniforms, and to add to the offenses of rebellion and the murdering of several thousand people, you lied to the President."_

_She simply stared at him and replied, "That's rich, coming from you. No pun intended."_

_Rufus stared back in disbelief._

"_I could crush you," he whispered. _

"_An empty threat," she responded coolly. "You haven't succeeded yet. If you wanted to kill me, why did you give me those keys for the ShinRa vehicles when we escaped Midgar?"_

"_Because I didn't think you would last long anyway. Besides, did you even see those vehicles? The inventors have no sense of style. I'll bet they ran out of fuel after the first fives miles, they're so uneconomical." Rufus flipped his hair._

_The petite soldier rolled her dark eyes. "So considerate of you to think of the economy! If we're enemies, then why have you not ordered the guards to kill us already? After all… we're right here… nowhere to run…" she trailed off, putting her helmet back on. _

_Rufus pulled off her helmet as soon as she put it on. She resisted, but he dropped the helmet and caught her arms. Holding her wrists up between them, he looked directly into her eyes. "I don't care. Just don't get in my way. If you do, then I will be forced to kill you."_

_He stared for a moment in her rich, russet eyes and almost lost his cool. His own azure eyes flickered before he regained his composure. He noticed her short gasp and wondered what he had given away. But he hoped it had scared her enough to keep her away from him. _

_He released her and stood back. She bent to pick up her helmet and Rufus strode away. He felt those mahogany eyes follow him across the deck to where Heidegger was yelling at some soldiers to get back to work and stop spreading rumours about the terrorist group AVALANCHE being on board. _

_Rufus spoke to his Head of Public Maintenance with a cool tone. "What's the damage? Was Sephiroth on board?"_

"_Uh, no sir," Heidegger adjusted his collar nervously. "But we did find an interesting specimen for Hojo to study… gya ha ha ha…"_

_Rufus rolled his eyes. "For the last time, Heidegger, your stupid horse laugh does my head in. If you don't stop it I will have your laugh physically removed in a way you can only dream of in science fiction."_

Rufus sat back in his chair and chuckled softly at his threat and the look of horror on his Head of Public Maintenance. Yes, fear was a good weapon.

* * *

Meteor, the calamity from the sky, had been summoned at the moment Sephiroth received the Black Materia in the Northern Crater. Cloud had flipped out and Hojo was no longer of much use to ShinRa's Department of Scientific Research. His ship had sailed long ago and Rufus never really cared about finding the Promised Land. There was now the threat to end the world and he was beginning to see, even if he had denied it, that ShinRa was _partly_ at fault. It wasn't until he encountered her again in the Crater that things began to change. ShinRa had to put a stop to Sephiroth and the new threat of the Weapons rampaging on the Planet.

But she had been there, at the Crater, along with her friends. He had warned her not to cross his path... and Rufus ShinRa always keeps his promises.

* * *

"_Come with me. There is much I still want to know." _

_AVALANCHE scrambled out of the crater with the rest of the ShinRa group and they took off in the Highwind. Rufus was on the main deck as Ultimate Weapon took off with such a force that it shook the entire ship. Screams filled the air and the pilots struggled to reach for the controls that would prevent the ship from stalling. _

_Utter chaos filled the deck as Scarlett screamed shrilly and Heidegger rolled across the deck, taking out two soldiers who had only just regained their balance. _

_Rufus clung to a rail that lined the wall and then bellowed at the chaotic deck._

"_THAT'S ENOUGH! Everyone, back to your stations, NOW! Do it before I order this ship to be flown into Hell itself."_

_When the crew had stumbled to their places the ship stabled and Rufus let go of the rail to flip his hair._

"_Now… Heidegger, tell me where I can find the prisoners." _

"_Prisoners? Uh – oh, yeah, they're below deck on the lower balcony. Gyah…"_

_Rufus' expression changed from one of solemnity to revulsion and anger. "Where?"_

"_They're uh –" Heidegger called after him, but Rufus had already left. Two soldiers flanked behind him as he marched to the lower deck._

_His mind was buzzing. "The lower deck! What was that oaf thinking?" Rufus muttered. "Anything could've happened to them!" _

_To her…_

_The President stopped dead in his tracks. The soldiers behind almost crashed into his back. _

_Rufus spoke to the air. "Why would I care about a babble of rebels?"_

"_Well, sir, they're valuable for information…"_

_Rufus turned at the voice of the soldier answering the rhetorical question._

"_I wasn't talking to you. Don't speak unless you're spoken to, Private."_

"_Yes sir," the soldier saluted, stealing a glance at his stammering comrade._

_Rufus surveyed their looks and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. His hand stopped midway, his eyes narrowing. He spoke to the soldiers with quiet authority._

"_Both of you take a five minute break. I'll go down to the lower deck myself."_

_The soldiers shifted hesitantly. Rufus snorted like a bull._

"_Get out of here. Now."_

_The soldiers scarpered and Rufus continued to descend to the lower deck until he reached the balcony where the AVALANCHE crew sat shivering from the high altitude winds. Gun-arm "Barrett Wallace" was holding a young woman in his arms. Realizing it was the dark haired AVALANCHE crew member that filled his thoughts Rufus struggled to re-gather his composure as all eyes looked at him. As he neared the unconscious form in Barrett's arms, he could see blood seeping from her hair and a bloody cut that marked her right cheek. Rufus bent down and surveyed the wound. He bit his lip as he assessed the situation. He looked up at Barrett, who looked ready to pass out._

_Rufus stood up and straightened, rotating on the balls of his feet to survey the group. "I suggest you do as I say as you are at ShinRa, Inc.'s mercy right now. Go upstairs and you will be directed to the conference room where you'll get some rest." _

_Surprisingly, AVALANCHE left without a word. Rufus knew of Cloud Strife's absence. Maybe they were reeling from his outburst of insanity and so obeyed without complaint or resistance. Perhaps they just wanted to get out of the cold. _

_Rufus watched the crew advance up the stairs and noticed Barrett still sat on the deck with the unconscious AVALANCHE member in his arms. Rufus bent down. _

"_Give her to me."_

_Barrett resisted, struggling feebly._

"_Gerroffa me foo'… you sonofa…"_

_All too easily (and quickly), the tough guy slumped and passed out. Rufus' hand shot out as Barrett dropped her head and fell backwards. Supporting her head, Rufus reached underneath her legs and with ease lifted the unconscious form out of the gunner's grip. _

_Rufus turned to face the two soldiers he had sent on a brief break stand before him. Rufus motioned with his head toward Barrett lying behind him. "Good, you're back. Take this man inside with the others. I'll take care of this one." _

_Immediately, the soldiers moved to pick up Barrett and struggled under the weight to get him up the stairs. Rufus observed the scene and followed, the young woman still in his arms. As they climbed the stairs her garnet eyes fluttered open and sleepily gazed into Rufus' icy blues. _

"_Cloud…" She whimpered, her hand fluttering from her lap. Rufus paused and stood in the middle of the dark stairway, watching her hand. It stopped at his cheek and she tenderly brushed away the hair from his eyes. _

_Rufus almost dropped her._

"_I'm not Cloud," he muttered._

_She smiled dreamily. "No… you're not… you look a little like someone else I know…" her voice trailed off. Rufus felt out of breath; but not because he was carrying her._

"_Who do I remind you of?" he asked darkly. _

_She smiled again. "A real jerk… but a cute one." _

_He smirked. So that's what she thinks of me, Rufus said to himself. He looked back down into her bloody yet beautiful face and whispered, "Who's the jerk?"_

_She mumbled with delirium and Rufus couldn't hear the words. _

"_Rfffms… ghfft… fuss… cl..shn-rahh…" _

_Rufus' face was inches from her own as he lifted her face closer to decipher her words. He watched her coral-coloured lips open and close silently, and then frantically._

"_No… you gotta go… please, stay… Cloud… he's gonna be there… don't listen… wait… he's a jerk… cute… but I can't… the enemy… common… what… ever he be…"_

_She passed out and fell limp in his arms once again. Rufus shook her gently, but to no avail. He continued to climb the stairs watching her closely. Her face remained the same - serene, but with a frown that slightly wrinkled her forehead._

_

* * *

_

Rufus stood up and paced back and forth in his office, remembering how her blood had stained his pure white clothes. He shook his head at the irony of it. He had blood on his hands and clothes alright. And it cost _her_ blood to realise it how dirty he was. He stopped pacing and flipped his hair. He turned and gazed out the window.

"Hah, hah, hah, Mr. President, preparations for Sister Ray are now in order," Heidegger buzzed through the intercom.

Scarlett buzzed through a second later. "Hah, hah… anytime is fine."

Rufus turned from where he stood looking out his 70th floor office window and glared at the intercom. He smirked a little. Back to business.

"…Fire."

"Sir! Weapon's been defeated! The barrier has disappeared!"

Rufus strode to his desk and looked up at the ceiling. Diamond Weapon had been destroyed in the blast and the barrier at the Northern Crater was broken, but something was not right. Not even the ruler of the world could win that easily.

The intercom buzzed again. "Sir! A mass of high density energy is moving towards Midgar!"

Rufus shook his head, smiling at sweet irony and his foreknowledge. If he had to go this way, then at least he was going to die doing something that could help her. Maybe her crew of oddballs could do something about this current event now that the barrier had been destroyed.

* * *

"_Where have you placed the prisoners?" Rufus asked his Head of Weaponry. Scarlett laughed nervously._

"_Kya… we have two of the members locked in a room in the upper labs." _

_Rufus rounded on her with a look on his face that would kill a small puppy. "What do you mean two? Where are the others?"_

"_Kya, we decided to keep them up there, so they can see sunlight and show the world that we at ShinRa, Inc. are merciful and treat rebels with—"_

"_Answer me, Scarlett, or it will be the last answer you'll ever give. What happened to the other six members?"_

"_They escaped sir."_

_Scarlett squinted and held her breath for the cutting blow that would end her life with ShinRa, Inc., and possibly end her life on earth. But it never came. She glanced at Heidegger whose eyes did not stray from the President. She looked back at Rufus, who was staring out the window, calm and composed. _

"_Which members do we still have?"_

"_A Tifa Lockheart and Barrett Wallace."_

_Rufus' heart thumped wildly and he turned on his heel and started towards the door. Scarlett followed, giving directions to the upper labs. "Just follow the steps to the Observatory and along the corridor at the end. On the right!"_

_That was the last thing Rufus heard as he ordered the guards to stand down and go back to Scarlett and Heidegger. "I'll go by myself."_

"_But sir, only the gun arm man is conscious, and he's being interrogated in another contained area. There's no one in the cell except the unconscious prisoner. There's no point going to interrogate."_

_Rufus smiled to himself. Good. It only seemed like a few more seconds until he was standing outside the cell door and he was ordering the guards to let him in. _

_The cell door was locked behind him and Rufus surveyed the room. The windows overlooked the harbour and the cannon and Meteor hung high in the sky with the sun setting across the ocean's horizon. Streams of its light streaked across the room in a hazy orange light. They rested on a young woman who lay unconscious on a laboratory table. _

_As he approached her, Rufus' stomach twisted at the scar that lined her right cheekbone up to the middle of her scalp. He noticed that the frown had disappeared and that now she merely slept peacefully. _

_Rufus now stood above her and watched intently as she breathed lightly, the delicate bones in her neck twitching as she inhaled and exhaled. She sighed and flicked her head as she slept._

_Rufus resisted the temptation to touch her face. Minutes passed as Rufus stood in silence, drinking in her loveliness._

_Rufus noticed a strand of hair that had fallen into her face across her mouth. Reaching out, his hand brushed lightly against the tendril. As he pulled it away, he skimmed her mouth with his finger and traced the shape of her lips, and then across her soft skin to cup her flushed cheek. _

_She stirred in her sleep and gave a faint murmur. Rufus' hand dropped to his side as he watched her eyes open dozily._

_Rufus stepped out of her view as she stretched like a cat, yawning and rubbing her eyes. Then she stiffened. She laid back into her original position and touched her mouth and then her cheek. She bolted upright and the breath caught in her throat as the President stood before her. _

_She breathed heavily like she had run a mile. Rufus swiftly covered up his own vulnerability and stood with calm composure and authority as she sat in silence. He noticed her glare and decided to break the silence. _

"_It seems your friends decided to escape without you."_

_The young woman glowered at him. Rufus smirked at her insolence. So that's the way it's going to be. _

"_I daresay they'll try to rescue you, but unfortunately I doubt they'll come in time."_

_She didn't even ask him what he meant by that. Rufus was trying to tell her what his employees were going to do but she wouldn't even give him the satisfaction of asking what he meant. _

_Rufus strode towards the window. "I see you've become mute since your little tumble on the Highwind."_

"_You're a scoundrel."_

_Rufus turned and saw her stand up. She leant on the lab table with one hand, but her other hand had balled into a fist._

_  
"Excuse me?"_

"_You heard me. You're a filthy, cowardly, good for nothing, arrogant—"_

"_That's enough from you, Miss AVALANCHE. You need to learn some—"_

"_My _name_ is Tifa. I am not some identification number or a file on your precious state of the art computers. I'm not a commoner. I'm a person."_

_Rufus smirked at her defiance. His smirk seemed to confuse her because when he took a step towards her she stumbled backward, and would've fallen if she had not been caught by Rufus' outstretched hand._

"_Easy, don't get in a tizzy. You don't want to hurt yourself anymore. After all, you're not just an identification number."_

_Tifa pushed away from him in disgust and sat back on the table. _

"_What do you know about me?" She spat. "What do you know about anything?"_

_Rufus sat on the lab table next to hers. "Well, what do you know about _me_? Apparently I like to make speeches, just like my two-faced, murdering father?"_

"_You're all the same," Tifa muttered to the ground. "You've murdered people by the thousands."_

"_Haven't you? According to my recollection, your group blew up a reactor, killing just fewer than five thousand eight hundred civilians who didn't know what was coming to them."_

_Tifa gazed at him with such sorrow that Rufus was taken aback. But he continued. "We're both as bad as eachother Tifa. We just have different goals."_

"_Ours is to save the Planet."_

"_Ours is to keep the people alive by the Planet."_

_Tifa snorted. "You have a funny way of letting the people know that you care. Have you ever been underneath the plate? Have you witnessed the pain, the suffering? Each morning you wake up with sunlight streaming through your window when the only way people living underneath know what time it is by the clocks on their wall. You think you want to save the people? Then get off your rich butt and give some of what's in your gold lined pockets to _them_."_

_Rufus' expression was vacant. After several moments, he spoke. "You're absolutely right. But right now, we have more important things to worry about than reactors and civilians, don't you think?"_

_The President watched this young rebel look back down at the floor. Her hair fell down the sides of her head, dark chestnut fountains of silky hair obscuring her face. Rufus was frustrated at her silence. He flipped his hair and stared out the window. Then he heard a small sniff. _

_Rufus' mind flew back to the present. He looked down at her petite form, and then at the floor. A small wet splash hit the tiles below their feet which was quickly followed by another. Rufus was bewildered. She wasn't _crying_, was she?_

_Hesitating, Rufus bent and cautiously reached out to pull her hair away from her face. Just as he touched it her head shot up. Her face was flushed and wet. _

"_What are you even doing here? If I'm here by myself, the why don't you kill me now?" Tifa sobbed, putting her face in her hands. "Cloud, where are you?"_

_Rufus stood staring at this woman, perplexed. He had not been around many women, only Scarlett and the occasional office HQ secretary. Scarlett was part of a species that was entirely her own. A scary one at that. The others… they were simply nobodies. But this beautiful enigma… was different._

_  
For the first time in his life, Rufus didn't know how to react. So he just watched her. _

_Tifa sniffled and her crying began to grow quiet. Rufus still didn't know what to do. _

_Why am I here?_

_Tifa looked up at him, her eyelashes clogged with tears. "What?"_

_Rufus looked away, and walked to the window, hands clasped behind is back. "I simply came to tell you that you have been warned about coming across my path. Unfortunately, your reckless actions have called for consequences that are… beyond my control."_

_Rufus turned to see Tifa standing behind him. She did not have a look of hate but of confusion._

"_What consequences? What control? You're the one who rules the world."_

_Rufus shook his head at her ignorance. "You don't know anything about politics. I made a promise, Miss AVALANCHE, and Rufus ShinRa always keeps his promises."_

_Tifa's face fell. He knew she was recalling the time on the Junon boat. Her expression then turned to one of hatred. "You _are_ a scoundrel," she hissed. As she turned away with disdain he caught her by the arms. _

"_Get off of me! You coward! You filthy—"_

_Her words were silenced by lips that covered her own. As Rufus kissed Tifa she struggled, punching his chest and shoulders. His arms remained around her fragile form, strong but gentle. She continued to struggle, refusing to enjoy his tender kiss. Her dark eyes were still wide with shock when Rufus finally closed his own. He took in her scent and realised how delicate she actually was. He thought she would break if he held her any tighter._

_Rufus eventually pulled his lips away from hers, and opened his eyes. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was still moving from his kiss. He pulled her closer and kissed her again. This time her arms wrapped around his neck, accepting the embrace on tiptoes._

_Rufus didn't know how she felt, but he felt as if he had been waiting for this his entire life and he didn't even know it. He had never had a proper home, but he felt like he had finally reached it when he kissed her. Whatever ruthlessness he possessed, it was swept away briefly in those precious moments. _

* * *

But that was what seemed like an eternity ago. Rufus saw Diamond Weapon's final attack coming, and was glad that he had had a glimpse of what it was like to have nothing to haunt him.

The intercom buzzed again and again telling the President to evacuate, but he ignored them.

"Maybe…" he smirked again. "No… it's better this way."

At least this way his sins would no longer affect the world. And if she made it, she could have a second chance at life.

* * *

**Two years later**

"Reno."

"Sir?"

"Have you heard anything about AVALANCHE?"

"They're all still alive if that's what you mean, sir, except that flower girl." Elena interjected. "There's only two that live nearby. Cloud has a delivery service here. I've been having him tracked."

"But Cloud likes to camp out in the Midgar ruins for some whacked up reason." Reno added.

Rufus arched his "good" eyebrow.

"He runs the delivery service with Tifa Lockheart, who owns the Seventh Heaven bar in Edge and takes care of some orphans." Tseng informed the former President.

"Really."

* * *

Be sure to R&R! =)


End file.
